Thailand has denied reports about top LTTE leader Kumaran Padmanathan being arrested in Bangkok on Tuesday night. Padmanathan, who allegedly financed the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, is wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
"According to immigration records for the past two years, there is no record of him (Padmanathan) entering the country," chief of Thai Interpol Colonel Apichart Suribynya told reporters in Bangkok.
Deputy Chief of Thailand's Special Branch police, Major General Trithot Ronnaritwichai, also denied that Padmanathan had been arrested.
"I have checked with all divisions concerned. Nobody has information about arresting any Sri Lankan man," he said. Thailand has served as a logistics centre for the Tamil Tigers in the past. Its Andaman coast has often been used to ship arms to Sri Lanka.
The Thai government also had no information about any such arrest, said Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Piyira Khempon.
Thailand police's spokesman Lieutenant General Narong Yangyern also dismissed reports about Padmanabhan's arrest, saying a thorough check showed that the Thai police had last arrested an LTTE operative on August 15 this year.
